A lot of people who are aware of Framework are linux users, and the average non-techie user probably doesn’t even know they exist.
Also:
Framework calls the Laptop 13 Pro “A laptop for Linux” in its official marketing, adding that it “is designed and tested for Linux compatibility from the ground up”.
If you market your product to linux users, surely you will attract a lot of linux users.
i had a whinge in the comment section of a recent ArsTechnica article where they reviewed a bunch of Laptops and not one from Framework or Tuxedo haha
I have my eye on a Framework Pro 13 but really don’t need it, i mostly desktop. I don’t Laptop much and just use an old MS Surgace Pro7+ with LMDE installed.
Ars is weirdly pro-windows sometimes , in the comments. I don’t read them as much as I used to.
Just let good news be good news brother. We need more of it in the world right now.
Linux is legit pretty easy now comparable to Windows. It’s application preferences and familiarity that keeps people at bay. New to computer user, I don’t think they’d struggle anymore with a gnome or kde linux desktop than with windows. to do the regular stuff people do. Browse the internet. Save their photos/documents in some folders
I would guess literally 99% of people could switch to Linux Mint and be more than happy.
I installed Cinnamon the other day, because I remembered it to be easy to use. It is.
But. It looks dated to me. Could really use a facelift. Maybe it’s just me, but in light of modern user interfaces Cinnamon is functional, but not a looker anymore. Zorin OS and Gnome in general, for example, show how it can be done.
Maybe just me…
No, it’s not just you. Mint and Ubuntu get thrown around a lot by people recommending them to new users, and they’re fine, but they are a bit dated.
I usually push new users to KDE Plasma if they are most used to Windows. It helps that Plasma is also my preference and I know how to help them with it, but yeah. I think it’s most likely to make intuitive sense to Windows users.
In my opinion both Cinnamon and Plasma are the GOAT, but for new users I think Cinnamon is the best, because from my experience it is trouble-free, and very easy to use, especially for Windows users. I have it on Linux Mint that is installed on one of the family laptops (I use Debian with Plasma myself).
i quite like the cinnamon theme in mint, I think it looks really nice, especially with a vibrant wallpaper. In my opinion it’s modern but simple and relaxing to look at
What do you mean? I know that Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu LTS these days, that means that it has slightly outdated packages, but for most users that need their computer only for browsing the web and other simple uses, it is fine. You can also install flatpaks.
With Ubuntu I don’t think the problems is that is dated (it literally is updated every 6 months), but how buggy it is. I literally tried it out like a year ago, and simple applications like Settings app, were just crashing on me after installation.
I love the way it looks. It’s super easy to figure out where everything is. “Cutting edge” UI designers have a tendency to change things to justify their own existence. Is it easy for the user to navigate? Is it clear what does what? Great. Stick with your design language and only change it if you’re forced to by some fundamental change that is incompatible with the framework you currently have.
I fucking hate how every time my phone updates something is bound to be changed with no obvious benefit. Even worse when they remove functionality I was reliant on.
Eh, don’t know about that. Probably a very large portion of people would need word/PowerPoint/etc… For company document compatibility.
For sure a lot of people though could easily get by with LibreOffice.
Not anymore. Most corporate environments I’ve been in use Office on the web or Google Docs.
MS Office works in a browser, and LibreOffice opens Word/Powerpoint files just fine. Been using LibreOffice for years while my coworkers send me files made with MS Office. It’s simply not a blocker.
web office products from microslop have reduced functionality in comparison to desktop variants, which is most obvious with Powerpoint. However, for sleek designs, canva might work better already, just the interoperability of the m365 office suite between multiple users at once keeps it at the front of the market.
Having used it in the browser, it barely works in a browser. >50% of functionality is simply missing. Pretty much only the very very basics of typing and formatting.
I also use libreoffice and actually like calc better than excel because python support ia a first class citizen for programming within the spreadsheet in Calc, but AFAIK macro spreadsheets aren’t very cross compatible, but I guess I work in engineering so every company I have worked with or for uses excel macros, probably not representative of other professions.
The grapuh of Linux suitability as a function of user skill is a U. At the bottom of user skill, you’ve got your aunt who needs a Chrome bootloader. Linux is perfect for them, maybe better than Windows.
As you get into the middle, you get into “I just need to use Photoshop” or “I just want to play Valorant”. It’s gotten to where software that doesn’t run on Linux is a deliberate choice, but they’re still out there. Gaming has been easing up in large part due to Valve, so the middle of the U has been rising, but it’s still a big dip.
At the top end you’ve got the computer science types developing all these internet and AI based systems almost all of which run on Linux servers in the back end. Linux dominates literally every computing platform except desktops.
Very good analogy, only would say there’s a wide range of creative people who are stuck with windows/mac because of compatibility in their field. They can be quite highly skilled but you can’t escape the industry standards.
Luckily Adobe seems hell-bent on self-destructing, that should help.
Oh yeah, it does help indeed. After I got used to Gimp, I don’t think I’d ever want to open Photoshop. For my personal tasks that’s 100%.
I got so used to PS UI I can’t figure out Gimp. That’s why I use Krita
Have you tried this?
https://photogimp.com/The UI is the worst I’ve ever seen, but you can use PhotoGimp
At the bottom of user skill, you’ve got your aunt who needs a Chrome bootloader. Linux is perfect for them, maybe better than Windows.
My school system had thin clients running CentOS growing up and nobody had issues.
Gaming is better on Linux than Windows now. I said what I said.
If you don’t play some of the big multiplayer games, definitely.
And that’s an artificial limitation. The game would work fine if they didn’t go to extra effort to hamper it; so the technical hurdles have been overcome.
It’s been so long that I’ve gamed on Windows that I’ll have to take your word for it.
Not surprising, the venn diagram of people who would buy a Framework (or even know it exists) and people who would choose an open source OS (or even know they exist) overlaps quite a bit, I imagine.
True. Still, it seems like a significant enough milestone for Linux.
Maybe because it’s cheaper? You don’t need to pay for Windows license so it’s usually cheaper.
True, but don’t they also sell a no os edition?
When I was looking for laptops regular laptops came out cheaper. I couldn’t justify the cost of a framework at the time.
Yeah, they’re not the cheapest but that’s because of their goals.
Designing with reparability and upgradeability in mind means more bespoke parts which cost more versus existing component assemblies in the market. That means more costly tooling and development, with smaller production runs than say a company like HP or Dell (which also costs more).
They actually sell the components and parts at reasonable pricing, and more importantly… designed with end user repairs in mind. So instead of everything being soldered to the main oard, different components are on separate subboards that can be replaced or upgraded separately. And include easy repair guides, a screwdriver in the box, and even extra screws pre installed in the chassis when you inevitably lose one.
Where possible, newer hardware they release can still be used on older models. Sometimes working 100%, sometimes with some limited capability depending on older system limitations. For instance, they just updated the 16" model and added an RTX 5070 GPU option, which you can purchase separately and pop into your old Framework 16 without needing to get a whole new system. Likewise, the same with the new mainboard/CPU in your old chassis. Or the new Laptop 13 2.8K Touchscreen which can be installed in every previous Laptop 13 model other than the Chromebook.
Very few laptop manufacturers get close to that kind of repairability and upgradeability, and that does come with a cost.
And they say Microslop only does bad things lately. What do you call more people switching to Linux to avoid their enshitification, if not a good thing?
It’s like Trump “helping” the oil industry
I’m so happy Framework appears to be doing well.
I’ve already replaced the keyboard of my 5yo OG 13 and plan to Frankenstein this thing as long as I can. I secretly hope the mainboard fails so I’m forced to upgrade.
Maybe after RAM prices recover…
Be careful what you wish for… My i7-1260p failed a few months ago.
I will say though, upgrading to an
ai340 is a serious quality of life upgrade in terms of gpu and battery life. Even the NPU is useful now with the latest drivers and kernel modules.
Company when marketing works
Another sign its The Year Of Linux. Yes I said it. Someone had to!
Desktop Linux is seeing higher and higher market share, not just because Linux is growing but also because the desktop mode of computing is shrinking, especially for personal use. There are lots of people who used to own laptops/desktops but don’t anymore.
Yeah. This is something I’ve been trying to explain for a while. Between the Steam Deck and the declining overall market share of PCs, there’s a huge jump in Linux as far as percentage of users goes, but it isn’t actually making significant waves in general usage. Regular users are sticking with Windows and Mac, but now there’s 1 Windows or Mac laptop in a household shared by everyone now versus multiple laptops and a desktop a few hardware cycles back.
There are still a lot of Chromebooks kicking around, too. And those are technically Linux.
Year of the Linux PC, it’s just us left, everyone else is using the ID and facial scan parts of the internet.
Well let’s keep helping people switch over to Linux and to use Windows 10 debloated of they really need it too
Can it also be the summer of George? Lol
I wonder how many would just do it for the extra discount and then use massgrave
Edit:
I went to watch their prices for the diy series
- Win 11 home is +145€
- Win 11 pro is +259€
- Ubuntu is free
(Preinstalled, is +220 € for win 11 pro or free Ubuntu, can’t get win home edition if preinstalled)
Who knows. Their target group is usually perfectly capable of installing an OS themselves. But Framework is also a popular hardware brand among Linux users, because their hardware is already built with Linux in mind. If you look at their forum, it does not feel like everyone is just installing Windows on their hardware.
Even if you want Windows, it’s still better to get that edition that works just the same but has most of the bloat cut off, that they made for small business computers.
If you don’t join a domain, win11 pro will automatically install all the sponsored stuff exactly like win11 home at first login. There’s no difference in the two editions except only the pro can join a domain. Exactly same level of bloat, even if it’s more expensive
There are some other features only in pro, like Hyper-V for instance.
Ah right
Oh, no. Not pro. The one for stuff like ticket dispensers.
I can’t wait to be able to buy the chassis so I can drop my existing 13 mainboard in. That black chassis is sexy.
Heads up if you are replacing the bottom part of the chassis for the pro version you also need to buy the new pro battery, audio adapter and the new pro speakers as the old ones are not compatible
I am absolutely aware, since I want the larger battery, better track pad, and speaker setup.
Old battery works in new chassis, but new battery doesn’t work in old chassis.
I’m not sure see this reddit response from a Framework representative https://www.reddit.com/r/framework/comments/1ss5zib/comment/ohpkqh1/
Interesting. In the video with the CEO and the product manager, they specifically called out that the old battery is compatible with the new chassis but not the inverse. I wonder what the deal is there.
Can you show me the video and Timestamp evidence of this please. In this Youtube video Timestamp 11:14 they swap out the main-boards, the old main-board is compatible with the new battery, I don’t see them mention that the old battery can be dropped into the new bottom chassis.
Wow, I was surprised that their release video leaned so much into Linux. They said that this is a response to user feedback. That reminded me of when there was a lot of ask for one-handable phone but their sales were too small. So glad to see it has paid off for framework.
CEO said “it is MacBook for Linux”
Finally. There’s barely any other laptop that measures up to the build quality of a Mac.
Hopefully they keep the repairability, unlike Apple.
It’s built with a lot of off the shelf components and the schematics for the parts that aren’t are open source. So even if they stopped tomorrow, the stuff they’ve already sold will always be repairable.
Pressures change when you are still niche. Apple and Google sell devices to show ads. Bigger screens, more ads.
I bought a Pixel Fold because when closed it’s a one handed device. I mostly use the inner screen when traveling so I don’t need to bring a tablet
This is it folks! This is when dozens become hundreds!
windows is extra no?
GOOD GOOOD!
As a Linux newb, I’m happy to read this. I hope that my next pc is clean from Microslop from the get go.
I was so disgusted setting up Windows the last time I had to do so. The installation process was just upselling/shoving adware. And now every other update bricks your pc.
